


To Protect Her

by lexatoldmeto



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Death, Gen, Loss, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 14:13:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5873575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexatoldmeto/pseuds/lexatoldmeto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gustus protects Lexa until the very end</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Protect Her

He should have taken the box from her. Before they handed it to her. Before her shaky hands lifted the lid away from the wood. Before her strong legs turned weak, and her knees hit the ground with more force than anything he had ever felt.   
It was Gustus’s job to protect her from enemies. It was what he wanted, to protect her from herself. He had been burned, stabbed, beaten, all in her name- but nothing hurt him as much as the cry that escaped her lips now.   
He tried to fix it. He tried to pull the box away. To shield her from a weapon they couldn’t see. As if that would make her better. As if he could convince her that it was okay, that Costia was okay. She would be back by sunrise.   
But Lexa isn’t a child anymore. Not the little girl who couldn’t hit the target with her knife. Who smiled when Anya yelled at her. Not the little girl he carried home after training.   
Now she hit every target. Now she smiled less, and he couldn’t carry her away from this fight. 

 

A few full moons later and she’s still not the same. They thought she’d get better. He knew she wouldn’t. She’s covered in scar tissue they can’t see.   
She doesn’t play with the children like she used to. She doesn't look up at the sky, or do anything just because. Every move she makes is planned and war-like. Systematic and cold. And at night he thinks he can hear her cry. Not loud enough to be sure. Not long enough to be convinced. Just enough for him to know, she’s still there. And she still hurts.   
Blood must have blood, but you can’t drain everyone. She knows this, and although her bones beg her to fight a war for the girl she loved, she makes peace instead. She sits side by side with the woman who took the best thing she had. And when her hands shake, and Gustus can tell her bones are begging her to fight, he takes them in his and steadies them with his voice. He reminds her of how proud her love would be if she could see her now. She tells him she never wanted to fight this fight. 

 

Now people have fallen from the sky, how unlikely. And a little blonde girl, with bullets in her eyes, wants to make a deal. She thinks there can be peace. She might be right, but he is afraid. Peace comes at a price and he knows it will be Lexa’s. And he’d do anything for her. To protect her.   
He threatens to cut the throat of the little blonde girl, because she seems more of a threat to his commander than any enemy she’s ever met. She spits flames, and offers a deal that she gets.   
The cold liquid he swallows feels hot in his throat. A burn that stands for the last attempt to save his girl. He blames his pain on the bottle, and all at once, ends the deal that the little blonde girl fought for.   
And when it’s all said and done, and they know that he lied, Lexa looks at him like she might not follow through. Like she might not be able to kill her protector. But he steadies her hands, and speaks to her in the voice he used when she was a child, even as her sword cuts through his chest. He’d do it again. Anything to carry her away from the fight.


End file.
